“We all know we have tribal tendencies – we attend conferences to hear speakers we agree with, we read books by the same speakers and we mix less and less with people who think differently. We don’t think it should be this way,” a Premier spokesman said.

First Minister Arlene Foster helped host a reception at Stormont last night to mark Premier’s official launch in the Province.

Mrs Foster also took part in a video interview with a representative from Premier, who asked her about her childhood in rural Fermanagh, the IRA murder attempt on her father when she was 16, and whether she prayed for her political opponents.

“I think that’s what the Bible tells us to do - we have to pray for our enemies, as well as our friends,” she said.

“When we are in church and we pray for political leaders, we have to pray for all of our political leaders, and I think that is absolutely the right thing to do.”

Asked if she hoped to go to Heaven and be reunited with lost loved ones, the first minister said: “It is a hope. When you are sometimes challenged by people who don’t have faith, and who challenge you about what you believe and the fundamentals about what you believe, the answer I have back to them is that I would rather have hope than have no hope.”